We’re still more than two months out from the Eurovision Song Contest final on May 26, but with all of the 42 participating countries now having picked their national crooning representatives, the jockeying to see who can become Europe’s newest pop/schlock royalty has begun.

And speaking of Jockeys, blessed France has just released the sizzling official video for “Echo (You and I),” its 2012 Eurovision entry (above).

The clip is hyped up on homoerotics, with a pack of incredibly hot military men who—when not whistling, sewing and making out with each other through their gas masks—enjoy just hanging out together in their tighty-whities. (As reader Tomer points out, the male lead here is Israeli model Yonatan Wegman.)

Oh yeah, the singer’s pretty smokin’ too: She’s 37-year-old Indonesian-born Anggun (left), who’s been charting across Europe and Asia for a decade and a half.

I haven’t even heard my nation’s offering (I’m British) nor have I bothered to listen to the French one yet, but I already know the Frogs will thrash les Rosbifs hands down – we’ve chosen Engelbert Humberdinck as our singer. WTF?

@Belize: Anytime. It was hard for me to believe they were one and the same person. One has passion and talent, the other a dance beat… :p

Mar 17, 2012 at 4:29 am · @Reply ·

Brink

@AladinSane: I know this song seems to be passionless, unfortunately this is the type that seems to capture todays youth .. sad but truth . anyways I still feel a sense of pride for anggun, because even though this song is a little bit generic, she still has meaning when she wrote it .. but you should listen to her new album “echoes” it will show you just how genuine and versatile she is as an artist. Full of talent this woman ;) Her album luminescence was a hit .. it shouldve been released in the US :( would have done wonders!

Mar 17, 2012 at 1:16 pm · @Reply ·

J Ascher

Good video and song! For some reason, when the soldiers starting coming down the assembly line, I thought it was something out of a Doctor Who episode!

I’ve been a fan of Anggun for over a decade, yes she’s done other better things, but this is good stuff, especially, you know, for Eurovision.

Worry not, she still has that passion and talent : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl9kscuuV6o – and her latest album, Echoes, is quite alt-rock (!) leaning. This woman is seriously versatile in her music – one minute she does dance-pop, one minute she plays the piano singing ballads. She’s amazing. I hope she’ll find more success and recognition with the new album.

Mar 19, 2012 at 2:28 am · @Reply ·

James

The Russians aren’t going to like this…

Mar 25, 2012 at 5:32 pm · @Reply ·

Scott Rose

Que fait le cochon la-dedans?

Jan 11, 2013 at 4:15 pm · @Reply ·

NormdePlume

Let me save you some time. Start around 1:30; Stop around 2:30ish

Mar 21, 2013 at 12:54 pm · @Reply ·

kiltfan

@Tavdy79: Our entry this year is very credible indie artist called Molly with a song called ‘Children of the Universe’. We will definatly get 12 points from Ukraine as one of the repeated lyrics is ‘Power to the people’. This is the link to her page on the official Eurovision site with a video of the song: